OBJECTIVES: describe the national prevalence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), among patients hospitalized in private and public French hospitals and to compare it to those described in US Hospitals. METHODS: The statistics are from the national PMSI MCO databases inspired by the US Medicare system. Data are encoded using ICD10. The codes used for VTE are I801 to I809 for DVT and codes I260, I269 for PE. The analyses identify all VTE, DVT without PE (DVT) and PE with or without previous/associated DVT. The study data cover the period 2005 to 2011. The French data are compared to those issued in the Morbidity, Mortality Weekly Report of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. RESULTS: Data from the national database reveal that over the period 2005 to 2011 the incidence of hospital stays came to 860 343 (1.09%) for VTE, with 428 261 (0.543%) for DVT without PE and 432 082 (0.548%) for PE. The mean number of VTE hospitalized per year over the period was 122 906, including 61 180 for DVT and 61 726 for PE. Out of the French population >18y, those 122 906 VTE correspond to an incidence of 247 hospitalisations for 100 000 vs. 239 in the USA for the VTE, of 124 vs. 118 for the DVT without EP and of 123 vs. 121 for the EP which is very similar. These instances of VTE occurred in France for 43.4% in men vs. 45.8% in the USA and 56.6% vs. 54.2% in women.   CONCLUSIONS: French VTE incidence is high and similar to those described in the USA. These results point out an alarming situation that questions the quality of prevention and/or its effectiveness. VTE prevention policies must be strengthened in hospitals for the sake of patients and healthcare savings alike.